From the perspective of policy makers, patient advocates and health care providers, chronic kidney disease and kidney failure present the following series of important questions:

• How do we, as a nation, tackle the economic and physical implications of a health care epidemic that when undiagnosed or left untreated, results in loss of vital organ function or even death?
• How do we stop kidney disease before it takes hold?
• How can we provide state-of-the-art care in a cost-effective manner when we can’t halt the disease?

As distressing as CKD and ESRD are, on paper, for those charged with addressing its consequences on a national scale, the pain for patients themselves is exponentially greater.

Click here to read the full article on the Healio Nephrology News & Issues website.